


The Scholastic and Romantic Adventures of Merlin Emrys

by orphan_account



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coming Out, Coming of Age, Drabble-ish chapters, F/M, Friendship, Growing Up, High School, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Mild Language, Romance, Starts in middle school, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2014-01-15
Packaged: 2018-01-08 13:39:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1133287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Change may be unavoidable, but that doesn't make it a bad thing.  Merlin is at the age when the changes come hard and fast, and being in a new school in a new city probably won't help.  Love and knowledge are around every corner as Merlin and his friends go about discovering who they are and where in this world they fit in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I only tagged the endgame pairings, but there will be many others within the story.  
> Short, drabble chapters because it's a style that I want to try.  
> Working Title.

Merlin was thirteen when he first met Arthur and, by extension, Guinevere and Morgana.

It was the sort of day that common in Camelot when winter was beginning to set in. The day was sunny and cool and while many of the flora had begun their annual sleep, there were a few, mostly trees, that refused to bend to Mother Nature.

Merlin had been nervous, despite Gaius’ soothing words and the poor boy was completely unprepared when his eyes rested on the sheer marvel that was Albion Secondary Academy. The campus resembled that of a university rather than a secondary school with its multiple buildings and the paved pathways that connected them.

Dr. Gaius patiently led his nephew by the hand and escorted the boy to the administrative building, which stood in the front of the campus like a sort of guard. The entire process went mostly over Merlin’s head, with the boy only speaking up to tell his counselour about the classes that he had taken in his old school. The old school which seemed like a village hut compared to Albion. Will would have hated it here, Merlin had decided. He missed his best friend.

It was Gwen who had been tasked with showing Merlin around. Although she was the only one on the Student Council and thus the only one allowed to be showing Merlin around, Arthur and Morgana came along as well as they could. Merlin was glad he met Gwen. She was patient and kind and acted far older than her thirteen years dictated she should. Merlin was also glad to know that Gwen too wasn’t attending ASA because of her family’s wealth. Unlike Merlin, who had won a scholarship, however, Gwen’s father worked at the school and thus she and her brother were allowed to attend for free. It was relaxing, in a way, and Merlin wondered if she had been selected to show him around because of what they had in common.

Arthur and Morgana were siblings, Merlin found out on his second day. ASA was a strict school and had very high expectations of its students, like being able to find their way around the campus by the second day. Luckily for Merlin, between Gwen, Arthur, and Morgana, he managed to not be late. The Pendragon twins were…confident, Merlin had decided after his first week. Wherever they went, they held their heads up high and looked everyone in the room in the eyes. Merlin felt intimidated by them, Morgana in particular. She seemed the kind of person who could talk someone into streaking across the campus, but Gwen assured Merlin that she was sweet. Arthur was nice enough, but Merlin had the distinct suspicion that himself and Arthur were locked in some kind of competition, but the goal was a mystery to Merlin.

Merlin melted into the trio fairly easily, which he found had both pros and cons. On the bright side, no one messed with him. The boy was scared that he was going to get bullied at first, just like at his old school. He was too scrawny and too smart and too clumsy to avoid bullies. Back home, it had always been Will who came to his rescue. Will had taught him to fight back, mostly through pranks and outrunning, although Merlin was never good at running. He always tripped. Here though, just being friends with the Pendragons seemed protection enough. Even upperclassmen were hesitant to cross the siblings. Merlin would later find out it was because Uther Pendragon owned the school and no one had the gall, or the money, to cross the man.

There were downsides, however, to being a friend to the Pendragon twins. While he was defended from the students, he was also scrutinized by the teachers. They expected only the very best from him and while Merlin was smart, he was also horrible under pressure. Merlin’s first week at ASA had been, interesting to say the least. His mom cried on the phone when he talked to her, which made him both happy and sad. Will swore to come down to Camelot if anyone so much as laid a finger on Merlin, which kind of scared Merlin. Will was the kind of guy who took oaths seriously – especially when it came to protecting Merlin.

Living with Gaius was similar to living with his mother, Merlin found out, much to his relief. Even though he was one of the best doctors in the country, Gaius lived in a fairly modest apartment with a spectacular view that made waking up early much easier. Gaius had only lived in a house twice in his lifetime, once when he was a boy and the other when he was married to his now-deceased wife. They never talked about Auntie Alice.

By his second week in Camelot, Merlin felt he knew ASA’s campus well enough. Despite its size, the school had a fairly simple plan and there were various methods to determining one’s location and how to get to wherever they needed to go. Merlin also got to know other people, although they were mostly Arthur’s jock friends. They weren’t unnecessarily rash or aggressive like the cool jocks on tv, but Merlin didn’t have much in common with them. Mostly he hung out with Gwen. The two had a lot in common as it turned out. They were both nerds and they enjoyed talking about the latest animal discoveries or the newest information from the rovers out in space. Merlin believed aliens existed, but Gwen doubted it and after a while they agreed to disagree. Gwen was also really artistic and Merlin learned that one day she wanted to publish a series of children’s books, which Merlin thought was the coolest thing ever. He wanted to write a book series once, but he could never figure out how to start it or what it was going to be about. The two spent much of their time trading story ideas back and forth.Although they were as different as day and night, Merlin and Morgana quickly became fast friends over the one thing neither Arthur nor Gwen couldn’t get into: anime.

Much to his surprise, Merlin found himself growing closest to Arthur. The two boys had next to nothing to common and no one in their group could figure out just what exactly made the two so close. Eventually the girls just chalked it up to “opposites attract”, which Arthur vehemently disapproved of since there was no attraction. Everyone else just laughed it off.

On the weekends, Merlin found himself missing Will. They talked on the phone every day, but it wasn’t quite the same. At one point, Merlin had to talk his best friend out of stealing a car to visit.

“It’s only like a forty minute drive, right?” Will had asked. “I figure I can make it there and back without getting into an accident.” Merlin laughed at his logic. Two days later, Will ecstatically told Merlin that his parents agreed to let him visit with Merlin’s mother.

The day Will visited was one of the best days of Merlin’s life. He didn’t know he could miss someone so much after only a few weeks. Eventually the two had to say good-bye, but before they left Will forced Merlin to make a promise. “Okay, okay! Just stop!” Merlin had cried out after what felt like hours of tickling.

“I, Merlin Emrys, promise to make the most out of this opportunity so when I get older I can invite Will and his pretty pastry-baking wife to live with and probably get fat and diabetic with me.” Gaius guffawed at the statement, but Merlin’s mom only laughed and assured him Will was well known for making outlandish promises. When his mom and Will left, Merlin went to bed with the promise still in his mind.

He wasn’t too sure about the getting fat part, but he was definitely going to make the most out of this opportunity.


	2. Chapter 2

It’s Merlin’s fifth week in Camelot when he is invited to the Pendragon Estate. At first he thinks little of it. After all, he was just going over to a friend’s house, right? Gaius had given the standardized “be on your best behavior” speech, but Merlin had thought little of it. That’s what his uncle was supposed to say. Then Gwen talked to him about it. And Merlin was terrified. The conversation had started off simply enough.

“What’s Arthur’s house like?” He had asked innocently. His face fell along with Gwen’s. It was nice, according to Gwen. She went on and on about how beautiful the estate was and for a second Merlin almost didn’t notice the ‘but’ that hung unsaid at the end of every sentence. Morgana came up to them before Gwen could get to the downsides.

As the week went on, Merlin found himself growing more and more anxious. After all, not only were the Pendragons the wealthiest family in Camelot, they were also one of the oldest and from what he had heard, the patriarch of the family, Uther Pendragon, was notoriously easy to offend. And finally, Merlin was on his way there. It was then Merlin discovered that there was a third Pendragon, the half-sister of Arthur and Morgana, Morgause. She was surprisingly down-to-earth and easy to talk to, despite being several years older than the group. She drove a sleek sports car and it was Morgana who got the shotgun seat.

“Wow,” was all Merlin said when they arrived. The Pendragon Estate seemed to be somewhere between cutting-edge and medieval architecture. And it pulled off the combination marvelously. It wasn’t as large as the ASA campus, but was just as grand, if not more so.

Merlin was not prepared to meet face-to-face with Uther Pendragon so soon, but the man was the first thing he saw when he entered the house. He had a stern look on his face and a rigidness to everything he did and said. He regarded Gwen rather coldly and she shied away, which earned him glares from his children.

“And you are…?” Uther said, his eyes harsh, but not necessarily angry. Merlin felt like he was being interrogated. The CEO of Pendragon, Inc. seemed to relent when he discovered Merlin was one of the winners of his full-ride scholarships. He was pleased to discover that Merlin’s uncle was Gaius who, as it so happened, was the personal doctor to the Pendragons. Merlin never thought about what he wanted to do with his life other than write a book, but being with Uther made him feel that he should follow his uncle’s footsteps and go into medicine.

Finally, Uther departed for work and with an apology for her father, Morgause followed him out the door. No one said anything about Uther and the four went up to Arthur’s room and talked about school and more specifically, the wonders of algebra.

The next day fliers for the junior high dance began going up, which caused the slightest of changes. At first Merlin didn’t notice the way both Morgana and Gwen talked to him more about the dance. He did, however, notice Arthur’s increasing irritation and aggressiveness around him. It started small at first. Arthur was usually on the more physical side, with lots of friendly pulls, tugs, punches, and the like. When Merlin asked about the increasing frequency and power behind these “friendly actions”, Arthur said it was puberty and asked who Merlin was taking to the dance. The blond seemed oddly pleased to discover that Merlin probably wouldn’t attend.

As it turned out, Morgana did not share her brother’s delight.

Neither did Gwen, Merlin would later find out, but it was Morgana who had cornered him about it. That was the day Merlin first discovered that of all the Pendragons he had met, Morgana was the one he least wanted to ever piss off. And that included Uther.

Gaius was rather surprised when Morgana stormed into his apartment in a manner eerily similar to her father and kidnapped his nephew. Hours later, Merlin returned with a navy blue tuxedo and asking permission to attend the dance. Arthur would later tell Merlin that Morgana always got what she wanted.

At some point during the night of the dance, Merlin discovered that Arthur’s momentary increase in aggression may possibly have been related to his crush on Gwen. Of course when presented with this, Arthur brushed off the theory (out of Gwen’s earshot, Merlin noted) and not-to-politely asked where this rumor started.

Morgana was a beautiful dancer. And a patient teacher when it came to Merlin, who if nothing else, made sure he at least didn’t step on Morgana’s feet. He may have tripped, stepped on other people’s feet, and nearly dropped Morgana, but the soles of his new shoes never touched Morgana’s bare toes. Soon the dance ended. The crowd of middle school students slowly dwindled as they got picked up one-by-one. Arthur and Morgana were picked up by Uther, who had no desire on waiting for their friends’ parents to arrive. Gwen was the next to leave and Merlin soon after.

It was a Friday night, so Merlin didn’t feel as bad for calling Will to talk about the dance at 11 o'clock. Of course, knowing Will, he would have stayed up to hear about the dance anyway, school night or not. Will seemed rather pleased that Merlin had gone with a pretty date, but there was something else in his voice Merlin couldn’t quite place. After a long conversation involving a war between robots and unicorns, the two friends said good night and Merlin went to sleep dreaming of the final exams that were coming up on Monday.


End file.
